Nothing in the above tables will need explanation, except the
anomalous sharp beats of the 3ds, in the last column. These are
derived from the perfect ratio 6 : 7, because these 3ds are, in
reality, much nearer to the ratio of 6 : 7 than to that of 5 : 6;
and hence could their beats be counted, they would be those of
the table, and not those which would be derived from considering
these 3ds as having flat temperaments of the ratio 5 : 6. But
although the beats are slower, the nearer they approach the ratio
6 : 7, this ought not to be regarded as any sufficient reason
for admitting so large temperaments into the scale, were it not
absolutely necessary, in order to accommodate those 3ds which are
of far more frequent occurrence. Although the beats of these 3ds
grow slower as their temperaments are increased, yet they are
losing their character in melody; and become, in this respect, more
and more offensive, the more they are tempered. Hence the harmony
and melody of the several intervals, jointly considered, are to
be judged of rather from their temperaments, in the three first
columns, than from their beats, in the three last.
_Scholium_ 1.
It will be perceived, from a comparison of the temperaments in
Table XII. with the corresponding numbers in Table IX., that the
harshness of the several concords, especially of the IIIds and 3ds,
is, in general, nearly in the inverse ratio of their frequency. The
contending claims of the different concords render it impossible
that this ratio should hold exactly. Including the Vths, the
harmony of the concords is much more nearly _equal_, than the
principle of rendering the temperament of each inversely as its
frequency, could it be carried into complete effect, would require.
_Scholium_ 2.
The foregoing system may be put in practice, on the organ, by
making the Vths beat flat, with the exception of those on C♯,
E♭, and G♯, which must beat sharp, at the rate required in the
table; proving the correctness of the temperaments of the Vths, by
comparing the beats of the IIIds, as they rise, with those required
by column two. Should less accuracy be required, the IIIds on C,
D, and A, might be made perfect, without producing any essential
change in the system. This would reduce the labour of counting the
beats to eight degrees only.
_Scholium_ 3.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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